1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors, and more particularly to electrical connector assemblies of the type including a plurality of discrete pin terminals.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to most effectively utilize the data handling capacity of electronic components used in the fields of communications and information processing, it is often more desirable to combine a number of existing components into a system or network rather than to increase the capacity of individual components. Often, however, the individual components were not designed for use in a network, or the network design differs from that contemplated by the designers of the individual components, and thus the individual components of the systems may not be entirely compatible.
The problems of component incompatibility are compounded by the existence, at present, of a relatively large number of different interface standards, which differ not only in communication protocols, but also in the number of input and output (I/O) circuits provided. The solution to this problem has generally entailed adding custom designed adapters to the interfaces, or modifying the interfaces themselves so that the devices to be interconnected at least have the same number of I/O circuits. This greatly increases the complexity of such systems without ultimately solving the problem of compatibility.
Counter to the trend of customizing interfaces, or providing adapters to achieve communication between disparate electrical devices, are recent attempts to incorporate a variety of circuit elements formerly provided in the adapters or interfaces into cable connectors, even while achieving ever greater connector miniaturization. For example, connectors have been proposed which incorporate circuit elements for the purposes of transient suppression, filtering, termination, and the like.
In order to facilitate inclusion of such circuit elements in a miniature connector, it has been proposed to place the circuit elements on circuit boards within the connector. For example, it is known to include within the connector transient suppression diodes or capacitors connected between the contacts and ground via a circuit board. While such circuit boards may appear to electrically interconnect the pins, their function precludes circuit grouping, the traces and circuit elements being arranged to isolate rather than interconnect the pins.
As a result, a satisfactory solution to the problem of grouping I/O circuits or terminals between devices has yet to be achieved. Presently proposed designs are either incompatible with standard multi-pin connector designs or are undesirably complicated. A need clearly exists for a way of grouping together I/O circuits using a design which is compatible with standard connector designs and yet may be easily adapted for a variety of different I/O configurations, and which is reliable and easily manufactured.